China: Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris begins official visit (-15), [NB Beijing was major financer of Sri Lankan government in civil war]
China: Mudslides devestate a town in northwest China and have killed at least 65 people. Following up as rescue teams search for hundreds of missing and prepare explosives to dislodge a blockage of mud, debris and water in a valley.
South Korea: Country's biggest-ever anti-submarine exercises continue in Yellow Sea, involving some 4,500 personnel; they aim to improve defence capabilities following March sinking of Cheonan warship; Pyongyang has threatened direct action in response (-9)
Thailand: About 200 red-shirted protesters gather near Bangkok's Victory monument to remind passers-by of the recent bloody protests.
Thailand: Hundreds of Myanmar activists in Thailand hold a peaceful rally near Thai-Myanmar border to remember a massacre of August 8, 1988, when pro-democracy activists rose up against military rule in Myanmar.
Russia: Moscow has said it is dissatisfied with the U.S.’s fulfillment of its START 1 obligations regarding the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and noted concerns regarding the unsanctioned re-equipping of five ICBM launch facilities for international ballistic missiles at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, the re-equipping of U.S. heavy bombers and violations against other terms of the treaty, including those related to chemical and biological weapons.
Bangladesh: India has agreed to loan Bangladesh $1 billion, the largest sum India has ever loaned another country, to upgrade communication networks between the two countries, improve railway networks, construct roads and bridges, and build power plants.
Indian Kashmir: Rescuers struggle to find survivors after devastating floods caused by freak rains killed at least 120 people in a remote part of Indian Kashmir.
Pakistan: Following reports that two dams on the River Indus might break in Sindh Province
Uzbekistan: Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada meets President Islam Karimov and then Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi tomorrow
Iraq: The United States has handed over control of all combat duties to Iraqi security forces [NB Washington is reducing the number of troops in Iraq to 50,000 by Sept. 1 from just less than 65,000 currently]
Iraq: Following up after three bombs went off in unison in central Basra province leaving an unidentified number of casualties, ripping through an outdoor market near the Abdullah bin Ali Tomb in central Basra, leaving a number of people killed and wounded.
Kyrgyzstan: The UN has expressed concern that Kyrgyz plans for redeveloping the ruined city of Osh may further alienate the Uzbek minority. Thousands of homes, the large majority of them owned by ethnic Uzbeks, were destroyed in inter-ethnic violence in June.
UAE: Human Rights Watch has written a letter to UAE's Interior Minister asking for hundreds of Lebanese citizens and Palestinians from Gaza be given a chance to appeal their expulsions from the Gulf nation. It claims 120 Lebanese families - all of them Shia - have been deported in the past year without explanation and given only days to pack things.
Yemen: Syrian Prime Minister Muhammad Naji al-Itri continues visit to meet counterpart Ali Muhammad Mujawar, other senior officials for talks on economy, development, culture
Gaza: The main power plant in Gaza has stopped after running out of fuel.
Rwanda: Final day of campaigning for 9 August presidential elections
UK: President Asif Ali Zardari concludes visit to Britain
Guantanamo: Sentencing of Sudanese national Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi just days ahead of U.S. v Omar Khadr. He has pled guilty at a July 7 commission hearing for conspiracy to commit murder and providing material support to terrorism. This is the first commission to reach a verdict under the Obama administration.
No comments:
Post a Comment